Device for protecting and reinforcing the leads and points of pencils



y 31, 1951 R. H. WENDT 2,562,345

DEVICE FOR PROTECTING AND REINFORCING THE LEADS AND POINTS OF PENCILS Filed NOV. 14, 1949 IN V EN TOR.

Patented July 31, 1951 DEVICE FOR PROTECTING AND REINFORC- ING THE LEADS AND POINTS OF PENCILS Robert H. Wendt, Evanston, 111. Application November 14, 1949, Serial No. 127,158

1 Claim.

ored crayon covered by wood, it is common occurrence that the user places too much pressure upon the pencil, breaking the point and resharpening it so that it is used up more often by breaking and resharpening than it is by actual use. Every one likes to write with a good pencil point; and this object is also defeated by the common breakage of the leads or crayons before they have been used very long.

It is also desirable to have a well pointed pencil, such as one which is sharpened by the ordinary rotary pencil sharpeners; but it is dangerous to carry about such a pointed pencil because the point is so sharp that if the pencil is placed upward in the pocket, it may injure the user; and if it is placed downward in the pocket, the pencil may penetrate the cloth of the pocket and make a hole.

Metal caps have been provided for covering the ends of pencils; but these caps do not fit the pointed end of a pencil which has been sharpened on a pencil sharpener because the conical part of the cap is far too short to permit its application to a pencil that has been sharpened on the pencil sharpener.

One of the objects of the invention is the provision of an improved cover for pencils which have been sharpened upon a rotary pencil sharpener, which cover is adapted to protect the point of one or more pencils and to preserve the point for future use, while also protecting the pocket of the user and positively preventing injury to the user by such a sharpened point.

Another object of the invention is the provivision of an improved covering for the writing end of a pencil which is not only adapted to protect the pointed lead when it is not being used, but which is actually constructed and adapted to protect and to reinforce the extremely pointed lead by engaging its sides over the major portion of the exposed part of the lead so that only the acute, extreme end of the pointed lead is exposed for writing.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an improved reinforcing cap for protecting and supporting the lead of the pencil while the user is writing, which is so constructed that pressure on the pointed end of the lead does not cause the cap to come off the pencil.

Referring to the single sheet of drawings accompanying the specification,

The figure is a fragmentary elevational view in partial section, showing a device embodying the invention for protecting the point of an ordinary pencil lead which has been sharpened by a rotary sharpener, while still permitt ng the point to be used for writing;

Referring to Fig. 1, this is a preferred embodiment of the invention, comprising a protector cap, indicated in its entirety by the numeral 28. This cap may be made of metal, but is preferably made of a suitable plastic, and in fact may be made of any rigid material.

It has a cylindrical portion 29, which may or may not terminate in a rolled rim 30 at its open end. The cylindrical part 29 has a tight frictional fit upon the wood 3| of the pencil 32. In the case of a hexagonal pencil this cylindrical part 29 may be made hexagonal, if desired; or may be made cylindrical and tight enough to frictionally engage the corners of the hexagon wood of the pencil.

The tubular part 29 of the protector 28 integrally supports a conical portion 33; and the angularity of this conical portion is substantially the same as that'of the angularity of a pencil point sharpened on a rotary sharpener.

For the purpose of protection of a pencil while it is being carried, the cap may be moved downwardly until the extreme point 31 is inside the conical portion 39, and the cap will be held by friction. In other embodiments of the invention the conical portion 39 may extend to a closed end for protection only when not using the pencil, but this modification may easily be changed into that of Fig. 1 by grinding off the end to the point 36 to suit the taste of the user.

In one example this is found to be about sixteen and one-half degrees from one side of the cone to the other opposite side. The conical portion 33 thus fits the conical portion 34 of the wood; and it extends beyond the wood and fits and engages the conical portion 35 of the sharpened lead.

For protector purposes the conical portion 33 may comprise a closed cone, but I prefer to cut off the end of the conical portion 33 at 36, leaving a very short, sharply pointed end 31 of the lead 38 exposed at the end of the protector. While it is true that this short pointed portion may eventually wear down to the end 36 of the protector, it is then time to resharpen the pencil, if the user wishes to writewith a well pointed pencil.

If the protector so far described were grasped by the fingers in writing, thepoint 31 of the lead being pressed against the paper, it might push the pencil up out of the protector, depending upon the amount of frictional grip between the wood 3| and the cylindrical portion 29. In order to guard against the pencil bein pushed up out of the cap while writing, the cylindrical part of the cap is preferably provided with a pair of opposed windows 38, which may be oval, or any desired shape, and which are preferably elongated in the direction of the axis of the pencil.

The windows 38 permit the user to grip the pencil itself between his fingers; and thus the force exerted on the point 31 is applied to the pencil through the windows 38'. The operation of this embodiment is as follows:

The cap is applied to the pencil with the walls of the cone 33 fitting and engaging the sharpened end of the pencil, particularly atthe projecting conical portion 35 of the lead. It is the lead which breaks and which needs reinforcement; and the parts of the cone 33, which are indicated at 39, up to the wood line 40, pr'ovide reinforcement for the lead by engaging the sides of the lead.

Thus the user may pressalmost as hard as he pleases on the point 31 and may write with an extremely sharp point without danger of breaking it so easily, as happens without the present invention.

It will thus be observed that I have invented an improved protector for sharpened pencil ,points, which has the proper angularity to protect a point that has been sharpened on a 'rotary pencil sharpener.

The present pencil, cap has an opening in its lower end for exposing only sufficient lead as is necessary to permit writing, thus reinforcing and protecting the rest of the lead against breakage, which occurs 'so often without such devices that the pencils are used up by breakage instead of in writing.

While I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of my invention, manymodifications may be made without departingfrom the spirit of the invention, and I do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of all changes within the scope of the appendedclaims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and .desire to secure by .Letters Patent of the United States, is

A lead pencil having a body which has been conically sharpened at one end thereof so as 4 to form a wooden conical pencil body end portion and a conically sharpened projecting lead in combination with a lead protector unit for the conically sharpened lead, said protecting unit comprising a tubular body portion having a cylindrical bore of a size to receive and frictionally engage the body of the pencil adjacent the sharpened end thereof, said protector unit having an integral tapered rigid extension carried by said tubular body portion, said tapered extension having a frusto-conical inner surface surrounding and complementary to the sharpened end of the pencil, said tapered extension extending beyond the wooden conical pencil body end portion and engaging the conically sharpened projecting lead over the major portion of its length to reinforce and support the projecting conical lead against breakin and bending stresses, said extension having at its apex a hole smaller than the diameter of the lead in the wooden body portion, permitting only a small part of the conically pointed lead to project from said unit for engagement with paper or the like, the said protector being ,provided in its tubular body portion with a pair of elongated oval and diametrically opposed window openings so that the pencil may be grasped by opposed thumb and finger to exert downward pressure on the pencil instead of the protector unit to prevent the pencil from sliding upward in the protector unit during its use in writing.

ROBERT H. WENDI.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 342,956 Foster June 1, 1886 833,744 Koehler Oct. 23, 1906 837,911 Benson Dec. 11, 1906 1,193,377 Graham Aug. 1, 1916 1,268,343 Greenbowe June 4, 1918 1,473,090 Ferry Nov. 6, 1923 2,114,203 Agbanyani Apr. 12, 1938 2,491,699 Wing Dec. 20, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 6,695 Great Britain 1910 166,333 Great Britain July 11, 1921 

